Archives of Rudolph W. Giuliani, 107th Mayor

Address to the United Nations General Assembly
on Combatting Terrorism

Monday, October 1st, 2001

As Delivered

Thank you, President of the General Assembly Dr. Han Seung-Soo.
Thank you, Secretary General Kofi Annan.

Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak, and for the
consideration you've shown the City in putting off your General Session. As
I explained to the Secretary General and the President of the General Assembly,
our City is now open, and any time we can arrange it, we look forward to having
your heads of state and your foreign ministers here for that session.

On September 11th 2001, New York City - the most diverse City
in the world - was viciously attacked in an unprovoked act of war. More than
five thousand innocent men, women, and children of every race, religion, and
ethnicity are lost. Among these were people from 80 different nations. To their
representatives here today, I offer my condolences to you as well on behalf
of all New Yorkers who share this loss with you.

This was the deadliest terrorist attack in history. It claimed more lives than
Pearl Harbor or D-Day. This was not just an attack on the City of New York or
on the United States of America. It was an attack on the very idea of a free,
inclusive, and civil society.

It was a direct assault on the founding principles of the United
Nations itself. The Preamble to the U.N. Charter states that this organization
exists "to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and
worth of the human person...to practice tolerance and live together in peace
as good neighbors [and] to unite our strength to maintain international
peace and security."

Indeed, this vicious attack places in jeopardy the whole purpose
of the United Nations.

Terrorism is based on the persistent and deliberate violation
of fundamental human rights. With bullets and bombs - and now with hijacked
airplanes - terrorists deny the dignity of human life. Terrorism preys particularly
on cultures and communities that practice openness and tolerance. Their targeting
of innocent civilians mocks the efforts of those who seek to live together in
peace as neighbors. It defies the very notion of being a neighbor.

This massive attack was intended to break our spirit. It has
not done that. It has made us stronger, more determined and more resolved.

The bravery of our firefighters, our police officers, our emergency
workers, and civilians we may never learn of, in saving over 25,000 lives that
day - carrying out the most effective rescue operation in our history - inspires
all of us. I am very honored to have with me, as their representative, the Fire
Commissioner of New York City, Tom Von Essen, and the Police Commissioner of
New York City, Bernard Kerik. [Applause]

The determination, resolve, and leadership of President George
W. Bush has unified America and all decent men and women around the world.

The response of many of your nations - your leaders and people
- spontaneously demonstrating in the days after the attack your support for
New York and America, and your understanding of what needs to be done to remove
the threat of terrorism, gives us great, great hope that we will prevail.

The strength of America's response, please understand, flows
from the principles upon which we stand.

Americans are not a single ethnic group.

Americans are not of one race or one religion.

Americans emerge from all your nations.

We are defined as Americans by our beliefs - not by our ethnic
origins, our race or our religion. Our beliefs in religious freedom, political
freedom, and economic freedom - that's what makes an American. Our belief in
democracy, the rule of law, and respect for human life - that's how you become
an American. It is these very principles - and the opportunities these principles
give to so many to create a better life for themselves and their families -
that make America, and New York, a "shining city on a hill."

There is no nation, and no City, in the history of the world
that has seen more immigrants, in less time, than America. People continue to
come here in large numbers to seek freedom, opportunity, decency, and civility.

Each of your nations - I am certain - has contributed citizens
to the United States and to New York. I believe I can take every one of you
someplace in New York City, where you can find someone from your country, someone
from your village or town, that speaks your language and practices your religion.
In each of your lands there are many who are Americans in spirit, by virtue
of their commitment to our shared principles.

It is tragic and perverse that it is because of these very principles
- particularly our religious, political and economic freedoms - that we find
ourselves under attack by terrorists.

Our freedom threatens them, because they know that if our ideas
of freedom gain a foothold among their people it will destroy their power. So
they strike out against us to keep those ideas from reaching their people.

The best long-term deterrent to terrorism - obviously - is the
spread of our principles of freedom, democracy, the rule of law, and respect
for human life. The more that spreads around the globe, the safer we will all
be. These are very powerful ideas and once they gain a foothold, they cannot
be stopped.

In fact, the rise that we have seen in terrorism and terrorist
groups, I believe, is in no small measure a response to the spread of these
ideas of freedom and democracy to many nations, particularly over the past 15
years.

The terrorists have no ideas or ideals with which to combat
freedom and democracy. So their only defense is to strike out against innocent
civilians, destroying human life in massive numbers and hoping to deter all
of us from our pursuit and expansion of freedom.

But the long-term deterrent of spreading our ideals throughout
the world is just not enough, and may never be realized, if we do not act -
and act together - to remove the clear and present danger posed by terrorism
and terrorists.

The United Nations must hold accountable any country that supports
or condones terrorism, otherwise you will fail in your primary mission as peacekeeper.

It must ostracize any nation that supports terrorism.

It must isolate any nation that remains neutral in the fight
against terrorism.

Now is the time, in the words of the UN Charter, "to unite
our strength to maintain international peace and security." This is not
a time for further study or vague directives. The evidence of terrorism's brutality
and inhumanity - of its contempt for life and the concept of peace - is lying
beneath the rubble of the World Trade Center less than two miles from where
we meet today.

Look at that destruction, that massive, senseless, cruel loss
of human life and then I ask you to look in your hearts and recognize that
there is no room for neutrality on the issue of terrorism. You're either with
civilization or with terrorists.

On one side is democracy, the rule of law, and respect for human
life; on the other is tyranny, arbitrary executions, and mass murder.

We're right and they're wrong. It's as simple as that.

And by that I mean that America and its allies are right about
democracy, about religious, political, and economic freedom.

The terrorists are wrong, and in fact evil, in their mass destruction
of human life in the name of addressing alleged injustices.

Let those who say that we must understand the reasons for terrorism
come with me to the thousands of funerals we are having in New York City and
explain those insane, maniacal reasons to the children who will grow up without
fathers and mothers, to the parents who have had their children ripped from
them for no reason at all.

Instead, I ask each of you to allow me to say at those funerals
that your nation stands with America in making a solemn promise and pledge that
we will achieve unconditional victory over terrorism and terrorists.

There is no excuse for mass murder, just as there is no excuse
for genocide. Those who practice terrorism - murdering or victimizing innocent
civilians - lose any right to have their cause understood by decent people and
lawful nations.

On this issue - terrorism - the United Nations must draw a line.
The era of moral relativism between those who practice or condone terrorism,
and those nations who stand up against it, must end. Moral relativism does not
have a place in this discussion and debate.

There is no moral way to sympathize with grossly immoral actions.
And by trying to do that, unfortunately, a fertile field has been created in
which terrorism has grown.

The best and most practical way to promote peace is to stand
up to terror and intimidation. The Security Council's unanimous passage of Resolution
1373, adopting wide ranging anti-terrorism measures in the international community
is a very good first step. It's necessary to establish accountability for the
subsidizing of terrorism.

As a former United States Attorney, I am particularly encouraged
that the UN has answered President Bush's call to cut terrorists off from their
money and their funding. It's enormously important. We've done that successfully
with organized crime groups in America. By taking away their ability to mass
large amounts of money, you take away their ability to have others carry on
their functioning for them, even if they are removed, arrested, prosecuted,
or eliminated through war or through law enforcement. It cuts off the life-blood
of the organization. So I believe this is a very good first step.

But now it's up to the member states to enforce this and other
aspects of the resolution, and for the United Nations to enforce these new mechanisms
to take the financial base away from the terrorists. Take away their money,
take away their access to money, and you reduce their ability to carry out complex
missions.

Each of you is sitting in this room because of your country's
commitment to being part of the family of nations. We need to unite as a family
as never before - across all our differences, in recognition of the fact that
the United Nations stands for the proposition that human beings we have more
in common than divides us.

If you need to be reminded of this, you don't need to look very
far. Just go outside for a walk in the streets and parks of New York City. You
can't walk a block in New York City without seeing somebody that looks different
than you, acts different than you, talks different than you, believes different
than you. If you grow up in New York City, you learn that. And if you're an
intelligent or decent person, you learn that all those differences are nothing
in comparison to the things that unite us.

We are a City of immigrants - unlike any other City - within
a nation of immigrants. Like the victims of the World Trade Center attack, we
are of every race, religion, and ethnicity. Our diversity has always been our
greatest source of strength. It's the thing that renews us and revives us in
every generation - our openness to new people from all over the world.

So from the first day of this attack, an attack on New York
and America, and I believe an attack on the basic principles that underlie this
organization, I have told the people of New York that we should not allow this
to divide us, because then we would really lose what this City is all about.
We have very strong and vibrant Arab and Muslim communities in New York City.
They are an equally important part of the life of our City. We respect their
religious beliefs. We respect everybody's religious beliefs - that's what America's
about, that's what New York City is about. I have urged New Yorkers not to engage
in any form of group blame or group hatred. This is exactly the evil that we
are confronting with these terrorists. And if we are going to prevail over terror,
our ideals, principles, and values must transcend all forms of prejudice. This
is a very important part of the struggle against terrorism.

This is not a dispute between religions or ethnic groups. All
religions, all decent people, are united in their desire to achieve peace, and
understand that we have to eliminate terrorism. We're not divided about this.

There have been many days in New York when I was running for
Mayor, and then since I've been Mayor, when I would have a weekend in which
I would go to a mosque on Friday, and a synagogue on Saturday, and a church
- sometimes two churches - on a Sunday. And by the time I finished, I would
say to myself, 'I know that we're through to God.' We're talking to him in every
language that He understands, we're using every liturgy that exists, and I know
that we getting through to the same God, even though we may be doing it in slightly
different ways. God is known by many different names and many different traditions,
but identified by one consistent feeling, love. Love for humanity, particularly
love for our children. Love does eventually conquer hate, but it needs our help.
Good intentions alone are not enough to conquer evil.

Remember British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, who - armed
only with good intentions - negotiated with the Nazis and emerged hopeful that
he had achieved peace in his time. Hitler's wave of terror was only encouraged
by these attempts at appeasement. At the cost of millions of lives, we learned
that words - though important - are not enough to guarantee peace. It is action
alone that counts.

For the UN, and individual nations, decisive action is needed
to stop terrorism from ever orphaning another child.

That's for nations. For individuals, the most effective course
of action they can take to aid our recovery is to be determined to go ahead
with their lives. We can't let terrorists change the way we live - otherwise
they will have succeeded.

In some ways, the resilience of life in New York City is the
ultimate sign of defiance to terrorism. We call ourselves the Capital of the
World in large part because we are the most diverse City in the world, home
to the United Nations. The spirit of unity amid all our diversity has never
been stronger.

On Saturday Night I walked through Times Square, it was crowded,
it was bright, it was lively. Thousands of people were visiting from all parts
of the United States and all parts of the world. And many of them came up to
me and shook my hand and patted me on the back and said, "We're here because
we want to show our support for the City of New York." And that's why there
has never been a better time to come to New York City.

I say to people across the country and around the world: if
you were planning to come to New York sometime in the future, come here now.
Come to enjoy our thousands of restaurants, museums, theaters, sporting events,
and shopping...but also come to take a stand against terrorism.

We need to heed the words of a hymn that I, and the Police Commissioner, and
the Fire Commissioner, have heard at the many funerals and memorial services
that we've gone to in the last two weeks. The hymn begins, "Be Not Afraid."

Freedom from Fear is a basic human right. We need to reassert
our right to live free from fear with greater confidence and determination than
ever before here in New York City across America and around the
World. With one clear voice, unanimously, we need to say that we will not give
in to terrorism.

Surrounded by our friends of every faith, we know that this
is not a clash of civilizations; it is a conflict between murderers and humanity.

This is not a question of retaliation or revenge. It is a matter
of justice leading to peace. The only acceptable result is the complete and
total eradication of terrorism.

New Yorkers are strong and resilient. We are unified. And we
will not yield to terror. We do not let fear make our decisions for us.